Every adventure that I’ve had in my 20′s has been an exploration of myself and an evaluation of new possibilities. When I visit a new place, I like to picture what my life would be like if I lived there. I wonder, would I have a positive affect on the community, or would I spend my time focusing on more introspective issues, becoming a better artist or developing my self. Brian and I went to the Virgin Islands for many reasons: we went to visit friends, look at boats, briefly escape from winter, and contemplate what it would be like to live down there for a while – if say, we were to go on another, longer sailing trip through the Caribbean as we had originally planned.
Ever since Brian and I returned from our trip to the Bahamas, we have been talking at length about our options for the future and our immediate plans. Both of us are always looking for opportunities that fall into place at just the right time – decisions that make sense and feel right on an intuitive level. A friend of ours recently remarked that the decisions you make in your twenties greatly affect the person you become in your thirties, and I find that this statement rings true to me when I think back on the some of the defining decisions I made. Although I am not yet in my 30′s, I can see how my decisions in the last seven (almost eight) years might impact my next ten years. Joining an Americorps program at age 20 led me to Italy for a year-long study of art; finishing my creative writing degree drove me to pursue a job in editing; and my job in editing pushed me away from a desk job and into a pursuit of artistic interests and healthy living. With each action I took, I was able to gather more information to help me inform the next decision. At 25, I had already starting making decisions about the direction of my life, evaluating my options based on who I was and who I wanted to be.
Brian and I went on a two-week scouting mission in the Virgin Islands. Just as I’ve done in the past, we were gathering information for when we are ready to make the next big decision, so that we will have a little bit of extra information to guide us. Although we aren’t sure exactly how things will pan out just yet, we both know that we would like to finish our exploration of the Caribbean, and we are doubly sure of this after our trip. The Virgin Islands did not disappoint. The mountains were a welcome change from the Lowcountry scenery back in South Carolina, where you can barely see over the marsh grass at low tide, and I snapped so many photographs of the jungle foliage as we hiked across St. John – lush tropical inspiration to use in my studio. Inspiration was everywhere, it seemed to be the ideal environment for living on a sailboat, and because it is part of the United States, we could work there legally.
We also made a point of visiting as many art galleries as we could find – looking into studio space, what the local shops are selling, and thinking on the feasibility of creating and selling my art down there. From a the sailing perspective, it was a no-brainer, but we wondered how long we would really be able to stay on one island before we got itchy feet again. Luckily there are many islands to explore locally and each with it’s own unique feel. It was surprising to me to find that the answers to almost all of our questions was yes. Many people had told us to push on to the Virgin Islands last year, but with no money to use as start-up, we made the conservative decision to sail home. We will be hanging in Charleston through the fall and the next big decision will hinge on many factors. But if we do venture south again, we’ll be prepared, and a short (or long!) stopover in the Virgin Islands could play a key role in our planning.
